Retarding means for railway car doors



May 9, 1944. J. s. swANN 2,348,370

lRETARDING MEANS FOR RAILWAY CAB DOORS Filed Sept. 2, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 1| Us May 9, 1944. J. s, swANN RETARDING MEANS FOR RAILWAY CARDOORS Filed sept. 2,' 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 [nz/erzof: Jamas 55u/am 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 mm FMLN. mm, 4

'May 9, ,1944.

J.. S. SWANN :RETARDING MEANS FOR RAILWAY CAR DooRs Filed Sepl'c` I2. 1941 Patented May 9, 1944 RETARDING lVlEAN S FOR RAILWAY CAR DOORS James S. Swann, Homewood, Ill., assigner, by mesne assignments, j to l Standard Railway EquipmentManufacturing Company, a corporation of Delaware Application September 2, 194.1, Serial'No. 409,187

' 1 a claims. (c1. 292-68) The invention relates to doors for railway cars and more particularly to means for preventing violent and unrestricted movement of a` sliding door during service movements of the car. The

usual type of sliding sidedoor is well known in the railway car art wherein a door is movable on atrack substantially parallel with the wall of the car and moves into and'out of alignmentwith the doorway in the side wall. l

Various means for supporting and moving such a sliding door are used. One of the best known is that disclosedin Gilpin Patent No. 1,902,772 of March 2l, 1933, wherein rollers are rotatably mounted upon the door and a track engaged by such `rollers is rigidly carried by the car. The trackis provided with depressions located at the properplaces so that when the door is in the full open or full closed position, the rollers are above the depressions. The rollers arethus relieved of the weight of the door and in their place lthe door is supported by engagement of rigid parts carried yrespectively by the door and car. The friction between such rigid parts tends to prevent movement of the door.

In recent years a combination ofcircumstances, such as increased'train and switching speeds and heavier loading of carsfhastended to vimpart more violent shocks to carsduring service with the result'thatthe above mentioned frictional resistance as Well as other retarding means sometimes used have become'inadequate to prevent accidental door movement. Such movements are liable to cause damage to the car and to the door, as Well as injury to an operator who happens to get in the way of such a moving door.

An object of my invention is to provide a retarding means for a railway car door which is operative in the full open and full closed position and in any intermediate position for preventing unrestricted and violent accidental door movements during the operation of the railway car. Y I

Another object isy to design such retarding means so that itmay be easily operated by a simple operation.l l

A further object is to providel a simple, rugged and inexpensive retarding means which maybe easily adapted to-any of the conventional designs of railway car side doors now in service.` Another object is to associate a handle with the above mentioned retarding means so that when a force sufcient for moving the door is exerted upon the handle, the retarding means is automatically adjusted so as to release the door for easymovement. l

Another object of my invention is to provide a retarding means which may be released by either the operators hand or foot. It is sometimes desirable that an operator open the car door when standing onthe ground and for this purpose a handle is operatively connected to the retarding means so that a force on such handle suicient to move the door releases the retarding means and makes the door easily movable. On the other hand, cars are often placed adjacent platforms which are substantially at the level of the car oor. In such a case, an operator standing on the platform may push a rigid handle located at arm height and at the same time step on a treadle associated with the retarding means, thereby releasing the door for easy movement.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will `be apparent from the following detailed description by referring to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a partial side elevation of a railway car showing one embodiment of my. invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the retarding means shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the retarding means as indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a view of a portion of the retarding means shown in such a position that the door is locked to prevent movement toward the right.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the retarding means released so as to permit free movement of the door.

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a modified form of my invention.

Fig. 8 is a section on line 8-8of Fig. 7.

Y Fig. 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Fig. 7.

In Fig. 1, the side wall 2 has a door opening and a side door 3 is shown in position wherein it completely closes the doorway. The track 5 for supporting the door 3 is a longitudinally extending, inwardly facingchannel member preferably secured to the side sill 6 of the car. A roller housing 8 is rigidly mounted upon each of the lower corners of the door 3; rollers 9 are rotatably mounted Within the housings 8 and arranged to roll upon the upper laterally extending iiange Il of the channel track 5. The track 5 is provided with spaced apart depressions l2 arranged so that when the door is in the full closed or full open position, the rollers 9 are above the depressions l2. The'rollers 9 are thus relieved of the Weight of the door, which weight is taken by rigid parts of the roller housings 8 or other rigid parts of the door which engage the track. The friction between such parts and the track retards movement of the door. The starting lever i4 is pivoted (I6) to the door 3 and has its lower end |5 arranged to engage a starting bracket |1 secured to the track 5 for the purpose of utilizing the leverage to move the rollers 9 out of the depressions |2. Such a starting lever is mo-re fully disclosed in Schlesinger Patent No. 1,953,152, June 19, 1934.

The retarding means is comprised in part by a. base 26 rigidly secured to the door 3 and having a part 2! thereof offset outwardly from the door. The movable dog 23 has azvertically'extending slotted hole 24 in the shankthereof and a. pintle 21 rigidly attached to the offset part 2| of the base 26 extends through the hole 24 and supports the dog 23 for both slidingand pivotal movement. The lower part of the dog 23 is offset inwardly to form an upper lug 29 which preferably rests in its normal position upon the upper flange of the channel track member 5. The dog 23 vis also provided with a lower lug 30 spaced below the upper lug 29 and disposed underneath the upper track flange The dog 23 is also pro- 'vided with an outwardly projecting embossment 32 disposed below the slotted hole 24.

As shown iny Fig. 2, the retarding means, including the dog 23, is inthe normal, at rest position.v When the door 3 is moved `toward vthe right, the friction between the upper lug 29 and the upper flange ll of the channel'track member 5 causes the dog 23 to rotate about the pintle 21 until the d og 23 assumes the position shown in Fig. 5. In this position, one edge 35 of the upper lug 29, and the opposite edge 36 ofthe lower lug 33 grip opposite sides of the upper track flange il andprevent further movement of the door towardl thel right.` If the door 3; is moved toward the left a limited distance, the dog 23 rotates in the counter-clockwise direction and aries the track 5. asimilar marmer. The. lower Smilies? if@ ofthe inner lus; 2.8 is. preferably convex downwardlyso as to facilitate pivotal movement of the dog 23. When` it is desired to move the door. the.. des. 23, is lifted by a.. means hereinafter described .to the position Shown in Fig. 6 wherein both theupper (2 3) and lower (30) lugs are freeof the upperl flange of the track 5 and; no gripping actiOll will take place.

, Aj lever 4,6 is pivotally mounted upon the door 3a preferably by a rivet lil, through the lower door-.frame strip 43;. The right hand end 4,4. of the lever 46 is flared outwardly and engagesthe lower sidey of theV embossment 32. The left hand end of the lever 4 6,- is formed in the shape of a rtreadle 46 intended for operation by the foot of the operator., YA rigid stop member 41 is mounted upon the door 3 to limit downward movement of the left hand end of the lever 36. When a manv is standing ona platform or other floor level support, a pressure by his foot upon the treadle pliliftsthe dog- 23 to the position shown in Fig. 6 and the door is then freely movable in a horizontal direction along the track 5.

The handle 56, is pivoted (51) at its upper end to the door 3 for swinging movement in a plane substantially parallel to the plane, of the door. The lower end of the handle 56 is provided with a, horizontally extending slotted hole 53 which receives a rivet54` mounted rigidly upon the door, thereby limiting the pivotal movement of the handlel 5,6 about its upper pivot 5| The left nd end of the, lever 49 is provided with an ined v-shape opstanding. cam 56. The lower end of the handle 56 is also provided with a cam 51 substantially complementary to the cam 56 on the lever 46 and normally engaged therewith in the position shown in Fig. 2. An operator standing upon the ground, when he desires to move the door 3 horizontally, grips the central part 59 of the handle 56 and exerts a force in a substantially horizontal direction. This imparts a limited pivotal movement to the handle 56 and the cams 56, 51 engage to deflect the left hand end of the lever 46 downwardly, thereby lifting the dog 23 and releasing the door for movement, as shown in Fig. 6.

In the modification shown in Figs. '1 to 9, a U-.shape bracket 60 is rigidly attached to the doory 3 and the handle 6| is pivotally mounted upon thebracket 60 in such a Way as to swing about a horizontal axis substantially parallel to the plane of the door. As is common in a car of the type disclosed, a threshold reinforcing angle 63 is provided and the threshold plate 64 is bent around and overlaps both the upper and lower sides of the horizontal leg 66 of the reinforcing angle 63. The depending vertical leg 69 of the reinforcing angle 63 is provided with a plurality off horizontally spaced holes 10.

The lower end of the handle 6| has rigidly mounted thereon a pin 12 extending inwardly from the handle 6I through a hole in the lower door frame strip-13. A trapezoida1 guide block 15 is mounted upon the lower door frame strip 13 and has a hole for guiding the inner part 0f the pin 12. The pin 12 is adapted to be inserted into one of the holes 16'in the angle 63, according to the position of the door 3. A helical spring 16 concentric with the pin 12 is retained between the lower door frame strip 13 and a vertically extending cotter key 18 carried by the pin 12. The helical spring 16 thusI functions to yieldingly hold the handle 6| close to the door sheathing 19 and thereby also yielding holds the inner end of the pin 12 against the vertical leg 69 of the reinforcing an-gle 63 so that when the pin 12 becomes aligned with one of the holes 16, the pin 12 will become inserted in such hole 1E! and the door 3 will be locked against further horizontal movement. It is pointedl `out that when the handle 6| is in the locking position; shownin Fig. 8, the clearance between the central partA 8|, of such handle 6| and` the door sheathing 19 Vis not sufficient to accommodate the hand of the Operator. Therefore, in order to get a grip on the handleY 6| suflicient to pushy the. door, the operator must of necessity move the handle 6| outwardly and thereby remove the pin 12 from one ofthe holes 10 in the reinforcing angle 63. This eliminates the, possibility of the operator tryingY to move a door that is locked.

lA* lever is pivotally mounted upon the lower door frame strip 13 to swing about an axis sub*- stantially normal to the plane of the door 3. The, right hand end of theYV lever 8,5 is formed with a treadle as hereinbefore described. The left hand of the lever 85 is provided. with an inclined cam surface- 89 as shown in detail in Fig.. 9. A` horizontally extending lug 9| is carried by the lower part of the handle 6| and engages the cam surface 89- of the lever 65, as shown in Fig. 9. When the car is near a platform the operator, in orderl to move the door exerts a horizontal force preferably upon a rigid handle mounted at arm height and at the same time steps. upon the` treadle 8,8. The stepping upon the treadle 88 moves the left. hand., endl of the lever 85 upwardly. Such movement moves the lower end of the handle 6l outwardly and the pin 12 is disengaged from a hole 10; the door 3 is thereby unlocked and may be easily moved.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. Retarding means for a door of a railway car, said door movable along a track having a laterally extending part and carried by said car;

said means comprising a dog slidably and pivf` otally mounted upon said door and comprising vertically spaced lugs disposed respectively above and below said laterally extending part so that upon pivotal movement of said dog said lugs bind upon said part and retard movement of said door along said track, a lever pivotally mounted upon said door in engagement with said dog so as to raise the dog upon rotation of said lever to prevent said binding, a handle pivotally mounted upon said door for moving said door along said track, and cam means between the handle and the lever for rotating said lever upon pivotal movement of said handle, whereby said dog may be raised and said retarding means released by a force exerted upon said handle.

2. Retarding means for a door of a railway car, said door movable along a track having a laterally extending part and carried by said car; said means `comprising a dog slidably and pivotally mounted upon said door and comprising vertically spaced lugs disposed respectively above and below said laterally extending part so that upon pivotal movement of said dog said lugs bind upon said part and retard movement of said door along said track, a lever pivotally mounted upon said door in engagement with said dog so as to raise the dog upon rotation of said lever to prevent said binding, and a treadle on said lever to rotate said lever, whereby said dog may be raised and said retarding means released by a force exerted upon said treadle.

3. Retarding means for a door of a railway car, said door movable along a track having a laterally extending part and carried by said car; said means comprising a dog slidably and pivotally mounted upon said door and comprising vertically spaced lugs disposed respectively above and below said laterally extending part so that upon pivotal movement of said dog said lugs bind upon said part and retard movement of said door along said track, a lever pivotally mounted intermediate the ends thereof upon said door, one end of said lever being in engagement with said dog so as to raise the dog upon depression of the other end of said lever to prevent said binding and thereby release the door for movement along said track.

JAMES S. SWANN. 

